Electronic Skin Could Help Amputees Sense Touch, Humidity, Temperature

A team of scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has discovered a medical breakthrough that could allow amputees to glean a better sense their surroundings.

Researchers have developed a flexible sensor with the potential for integration into electronic skin. If successful, the e-skin could attach to prosthetic limbs, letting people with artificial appendages experience changes in their environments, such as touch, humidity and temperature, simultaneously.

This is a big step forward, per the Technion Society, as current forms of e-skin can only detect touch. The researchers developed the new system using gold particles and a kind of resin, which is at least 10 times more sensitive to touch than other touch-based e-skin systems.